While the invention is subject to a wide range of applications, it is especially suited for use in a remote control system and will be particularly described in that connection.
Very often, it is necessary and desirable to remotely control various electrical devices. For instance, a user may wish to turn on various devices such as for example, a heater in a swimming pool, or the heating or air conditioning system of a house while being far away from that location. This capability is particularly important where the devices or equipment require a long time after they are turned on to reach the desired operating condition. For example, an air conditioning unit may require several hours in order to bring a house to a desired temperature. Thus, it becomes necessary to either run it for extended periods of time, or else waiting the time before it reaches the desirable condition after the user manually turns it on.
In the past, wireless remote control systems have been known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,360,777 to Kolm discloses for example, "a sonic system in which a timed sequence of sounds or sound-like signals actuate a switch to turn on or off the controlled device. For control from a distant location, the telephone system serves to transmit the signals used by the sonically actuated switching network."
U.S. Pat. No. 3,783,193 to Lee, discloses for example, "the apparatus of the present invention is located in the vicinity of a called telephone subscriber station and is operated to activate a remotely located device through a plurality of series of ringing signals initiated by a calling telephone subscriber station and produced by the called telephone subscriber station."
Many of the prior art devices had the problem of being complicated to actuate, relatively easy to actuate erroneously, and often expensive to produce.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for remote control applications which obviates some or all of the above-mentioned problems.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for remote control applications which is relatively easy to operate.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for remote control applications which is not easily actuated by an erroneous signal.
It is a yet further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for remote control applications which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture.